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Army Worms Plunder Chappaquiddick

The people of Chappaquiddick may have declared an uneasy
truce in their recent war of words over whether to enact a
district of critical planning concern, but this week there was
an army on the move on the small island at the extreme eastern
end of Edgartown - and it had nothing to do with building
moratoriums or long-range planning.

It was an army of worms - in fact an army of army worms -
and at Pimpneymouse Farm they had just finished plundering a
large hayfield on the southwest corner of the farm. The dirt
driveway that runs into the farm was a writhing, seething mass
of thousands of gray-black worms in a scene that was a little
like something out of a science fiction movie.

Maybe more than a little.

"They are moving. They're climbing up the stalks of the
alfalfa now and they are munching away," said farm owner Edith
W. Potter.

Huge infestations of army worms have recently been reported
in other locations in Massachusetts, including the south shore
of Cape Cod, but Mrs. Potter's report yesterday was the first on
the Vineyard.

By late yesterday afternoon a second report had come in.
James Athearn, the owner of Morning Glory Farm in Edgartown, was
on his way to inspect one of his fields in West Tisbury where
army worms had been seen. Mr. Athearn had received a call from
his uncle, Leonard Athearn, who had spotted the worms.

Horticulture and entomology experts at the University of
Massachusetts say the infestation is unlike anything they have
seen in the northeast region.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime event. We have no former
history to work with," turf expert Deborah Swanson told the
Associated Press over the weekend.

Patricia Vittum, an entomologist with the University of
Massachusetts, was out of the office this week, but the message
on her tape machine directed callers to the UMass website for
more information about army worms.

The Latin name for the caterpillar is Pseudaletia unipuncta.
There are many species of the army worm, but according to the
Umass website the worm that everyone is seeing now is the common
army worm.

But it's imprecise to talk about just one army worm. The
habit of the worm is to congregate en masse in one place, and
feed in densely packed groups that migrate from one site to
another.

"They are mobile, they move. Hence the name army worm," said
William Wilcox, the former agent for the Dukes County Extension
Service on the Vineyard.

Mr. Wilcox is no longer the extension service agent and in
fact there is no longer an extension service on the Vineyard, so
people with questions about the army worm will need to contact
an extension service on the Cape or at the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst.

But Mr. Wilcox said that in his 20 years with the extension
service he never encountered a large infestation of army worms.
"This is not a typical pest that we see on the Island; this is
unusual in our area." He said he remembers hearing old-time
farmers on the Vineyard telling stories about army infestations
many years ago.

Mr. Athearn said his uncle remembers seeing infestations of
the worm 30 or 40 years ago.

The young caterpillars are pale green and look like
inchworms. Mature caterpillars are about an inch and a half
long, and dark green or gray-green with a stripe. Once the worms
reach maturity they make cocoons and turn into moths. The moths
lay more eggs that hatch into more worms. The army worm
typically can have two cycles in a year, according to Ms.
Vittum's information on the UMass extension service website, and
the site warns that three cycles may be possible this year
because of the early warm conditions. But in some areas the
worms may only have one cycle.

"In other words, even though we seem to be blessed with
populations of biblical proportions right now, there is a good
chance that subsequent populations will move on to other areas -
perhaps corn or field crops, or blow downwind. We can hope they
are blown out to sea!" according to the website.

The website advises against the widespread use of pesticides
against the worm, since the infestation appears to be a rare
event. Also the damage caused by the worm is usually superficial
since the worm feeds on the top foliage and not the roots.

Experts also write: "It is not clear whether the army worms
can survive winter conditions in New England, but there is
little doubt that the moths can fly into the region in large
numbers each spring. We believe that moths arrived on one of the
frontal systems that delivered thunderstorms in late May or
early June, marking the end of a six-week mini-drought that much
of New England experienced."

Often the worms attack corn, but their early arrival in New
England preceded the corn crop, leaving succulent targets -
lawns.

At Pimpneymouse Farm they found something even bigger and
better than a lawn - a hayfield.

"I noticed these black spots on the driveway the other day
and then my grandson came into the house and said there were
caterpillars all over the driveway. I had noticed that the grass
underneath the hay in the field looked brown, but I thought it
was probably because of the peculiar conditions we were having,"
Mrs. Potter said.

She concluded: "Our southwest field is devastated. I have
never in my entire life seen anything like it."